Poll: If Pence was on top of ticket, race would be closer

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are so disliked that nearly a quarter of millennials said they’d rather be struck by a meteor than have one of them in office. But what would happen if there was someone else at the top of the ticket?

Author:
KHOU Staff

Published:
12:01 PM CDT October 27, 2016

Updated:
12:01 PM CDT October 27, 2016

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are so disliked that nearly a quarter of millennials said they’d rather be struck by a meteor than have one of them in office. But what would happen if there was someone else at the top of the ticket?

An AP-GfK poll released Thursday looked at hypothetical matchups with the two vice presidential candidates at the top of the ticket.

The poll found that in a head-to-head matchup, Trump was 13 points behind Clinton. When third-party candidates were added, he was 14 points behind. But if Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was swapped out for Trump, he’d lag behind Clinton by just 4 points.

And if Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine led the Democratic ticket, he’d be leading Trump by 16 points, according to the poll.

If neither Trump nor Clinton were running for president, the poll found Pence and Kaine would be basically tied.

The poll included 1,212 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.1 points.